As cases of COVID-19 rage in India, corporations with locations there are slowing activities, according to a recent report in the Australian Financial Review:
- Link Group will slow plans to triple its Mumbai operations, while online property listings business REA Group has sent staff home and will turn one of its 13 Indian offices into a clinic to test and vaccinate staff in response to the raging spread of COVID-19 in the country. Link chief executive Vivek Bhatia said India was a core part of the share registries and superannuation administration business and the company was closely monitoring the situation. The $2.8 billion company has about 1000 employees across India and will probably slow down a plan to triple the size of its Mumbai centre to 1200 people by the end of this year.
- About 1000 REA staff have been instructed to work from home. The Melbourne-headquartered online real estate listings company took a controlling interest in India’s Elara Technologies, which operates three of the nation’s fastest-growing rival sites, in October last year.
- India has become the hotspot in the global pandemic with daily case numbers reaching well above 300,000, and 2000 daily deaths this week. Countries are rallying to send supplies and support, while Australia has banned commercial flights from the country for at least three weeks.Melbourne-based Kunal Kalro, founder and chief executive of health start-up Eugene Australia, has extended family living in Mumbai. He said watching the escalating outbreak in India had him “feeling pretty hopeless.”